Chapter Thirty-Four: The Eve of the Transaction

  "Master Zhao, how do I look in this foreign suit?" Yu Dazhi had already removed the black cloth covering his face and put on a beige Western-style suit he had taken from the corpse in the courtyard earlier. He leaned against the Osmanthus tree in the courtyard, striking a pose with one hand resting on the tree and the other hand on his hip, one leg straight and the other slightly bent. It was exactly like the classic gentleman's pose in the photographs displayed in the Western-style photo studio window, probably something Yu Dazhi had seen when he passed by the window.

  "Useless guys, what's good about wearing dead people's clothes? When we get back to Shanghai, I'll make a few sets for each of you. Let's find the best tailor in Western Shanghai." Zhao Zhi scolded with a bad temper. This house isn't big, just over a dozen rooms, and Zhao Zhi stayed behind because he had his eyes on the valuable items inside, hiring so many thugs without even paying them their wages yet.

  Dai Zhi let out a silly laugh, took off his suit and started rummaging through the bodies' belongings. As Zhao Zhi had instructed, they were to bring back everything except for their clothes. Meng San and Mo Lun simply carried a large sack around each room, stuffing it with anything valuable they came across. In no time at all, the sack was full to the brim with watches, paintings, gold and jade, even the fountain pens from the study had been taken by Mo Lun.

  Zhao Zhi searched the guns and several Japanese samurai ribs from the bodies they had cleared, the guns were just some ordinary short-barreled goods, all Mauser pistols and Japanese Nambu handguns, no outstanding handguns. However, those few ribs were not bad, with shark skin scabbards, handles made of hard black wood, both lightweight and hard. Zhao Zhi picked up a rib and played with it for a while, indeed very useful, the blade was extremely sharp.

  Zhao Zhi had been searching for a suitable knife, but the one he had previously ordered from Hanting had mysteriously gone missing on a ship from America. He had to continue using the bayonet of his Japanese Type 38 rifle. Now that he had obtained these few knives, it just so happened that there was one for each of them, including Moran and the others. The extra knife could be returned and given to Hanting as a gift. Anyway, it wasn't his own thing, so Zhao Zhi never felt any heartache about it.

  Half an hour later, several people gathered together again. The valuable things that could be found in the house were almost all searched out. Zhao Zhi ignited a paper ball on his hand with a lighter and threw it into a room. In an instant, fire burst out of the room, and those corpses were enveloped in the flames. Zhao Zhi's purpose in setting the fire was not only to destroy the evidence but also to put some pressure on Xiao Cilang. Such a big thing would definitely be known by the Black Dragon Society tomorrow, which meant that Xiao Cilang would know about it too.

  No helpers, no meeting place, and the best thing is that tomorrow afternoon's delivery only leaves half a day of time. Xiao Cilang can't play any tricks in such a short time. Even if Xiao Cilang has some hidden tricks up his sleeve, Zhao Zhi has already arranged for over a dozen street thugs to keep an eye on him around Xiao Cilang's house. Every move Xiao Cilang makes is under Zhao Zhi's watchful eyes, so he doesn't have to worry about any tricks being played.

  Kojirō, of course, was unaware of the events that had occurred outside the city walls the previous night. He arrived at his antique shop early in the morning, as today was the day he had agreed to deliver goods to Fifth Master. Thinking about the bronze tripod and the gold bar worth 500,000 taels that he would receive this afternoon made Kojirō's legs weak for no reason. He couldn't sleep soundly last night, thinking about it all the time. The box containing the gold bars was placed under Kojirō's large bed, and at night, he got up several times to check on it, being too anxious to sleep.

  He came to the antique shop so early because he had an appointment with Yamaki, the captain of the Kempeitai, at dawn. Yamaki and Kojirō were from the same hometown and got along well since childhood. After meeting in Beiping, they colluded to cheat Chinese antique dealers for money. This deal was too big, so Kojirō had no reason not to pull in Yamaki, as he still didn't trust those Black Dragon Society guys, and it would be more reassuring with someone like Yamaki who knew the ropes.

  The tall attendant from Wu's house arrived, saying that his master had a family matter to attend to in Guangzhou and would be leaving from Tianjin Port at noon. He told Xiao Cilang that they could discuss the transaction further when he returned from Guangzhou. Xiao Cilang was extremely frustrated, as he had already agreed with Shanmu to borrow his constable.

  "You go back now and ask Wu Ye to come here, we've finalized the deal, don't delay your trip to Tianjin Port this afternoon." Xiao Cilang suppressed his anger and handed Zhao Zhi a few silver dollars with a forced smile, urging him to hurry back and invite Wu Ye over for the transaction. What Zhao Zhi wanted was to disrupt Xiao Cilang's plan, they were indeed leaving Beijing at noon, but not by ship or to Guangzhou, rather by train all the way back to Shanghai.

  Zhao Zhi had already borrowed several cars and drivers from the big-nosed foreigner at the Liu Guo restaurant through Betty, and this time Betty would take the train with Zhao Zhi to Shanghai. Zhao Zhi had in his possession counterfeit documents obtained from Huang Hanlin's National Government smuggling certificates and Japanese secret service certificates taken from the Heilongjiang gang members, all of which were forged by Ren Lun into several copies that could be used to deceive people, and even if they encountered checks along the way, they would not be discovered.

  According to the situation of Xiao Zirong entering and leaving the East Asia Bank in the past two days, Zhao Zhi knew that Xiao Zirong had already raised the money. This was a gold worth 500,000 yuan, which Xiao Zirong would not carry with him. However, this was daytime, and Zhao Zhi couldn't directly rob Xiao Zirong's store. It was easy to snatch the gold from Xiao Zirong, but it was difficult to leave Beiping smoothly after snatching the gold in a short period of time.

  Zhao Zhi came to deliver a message to Xiao Cilang today, pretending to be friendly, just to disrupt Xiao Cilang's deployment and make him confused, so that Zhao Zhi could find Xiao Cilang's weakness and take away his gold safely. Although money is a good thing, Zhao Zhi doesn't want to lose his head for it, knowing that he is also a wealthy man now, not to mention the two women waiting for him in Shanghai.

  "Our fifth master may have set off already" Zhao Zhi weighed the few large coins in his hand with a look of disdain, pretending to take out his pocket watch to check the time. Xiao Cilang silently cursed and handed over a dozen or so large coins to Zhao Zhi with a smile, pulling him along and asking a few more questions, "Do you know which gate your fifth master left the city from? Will he also bring that thing away?"

  "That thing is too big, what's the point of bringing it?" Zhao Zhi asked stupidly, then casually said something that made Xiao Cilang overjoyed: "This time, our Fifth Master only brought the steward to Guangzhou, I'm staying behind to take care of the house, and Fifth Master also told me to take good care of that thing."